Clinical Decision Support Found To Improve Use of Blood Clot Prevention Measures

AHRQ Stats: Adult Opioid Fills, 2020 to 2021

Between 2020 and 2021, 6.4 percent of adults aged 18 to 64 filled at least one outpatient opioid prescription and 1.8 percent filled four or more annually. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #552, Any Use and “Frequent Use” of Opioids among Adults Aged 18-64 in 2020-2021, by Socioeconomic Characteristics.) 

Today's Headlines:

• Clinical Decision Support Found To Improve Use of Blood Clot Prevention Measures.
• Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Ayse Gurses To Improve Healthcare Processes and Outcomes.
• New Patient Safety Research Summary Shows How Facility Design Can Improve Patient Outcomes.
• Apply Now for Funding on Projects To Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance.
• Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network.
• Deadline Extended to December 6 for Entries to Challenge Competition on Clinical Decision Support.
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Clinical Decision Support Found To Improve Use of Blood Clot Prevention Measures

Clinicians with access to a clinical decision support tool adopted thromboprophylaxis measures to prevent blood clotting in over 80 percent of inpatient stays and nearly 14 percent of discharges, according to an AHRQ-funded study in JACC: Advances. Providers without clinical decision support used similar measures in under 73 percent of stays and less than 3 percent of discharges. Patients receiving care at hospitals using the clinical decision support tool were significantly less likely to experience venous, arterial or total thromboembolisms when compared with patients receiving care without the tool. Access the article.

Grantee Profile Highlights Work of Ayse Gurses To Improve Healthcare Processes and Outcomes

Ayse Gurses, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.S., founding director of the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality’s Center for Health Care Human Factors and a professor in three Johns Hopkins University schools, applies engineering principles—thinking of healthcare settings as complex systems in which social and technical factors interact—to improve safety both for patients and healthcare workers. A new AHRQ grantee profile highlights Dr. Gurses’ work to improve healthcare processes and, as a result, improve patient outcomes. Access Dr. Gurses’ profile and profiles of other AHRQ grantees.

New Patient Safety Research Summary Shows How Facility Design Can Improve Patient Outcomes

Improving Healthcare Safety by Enhancing Healthcare Facility Design (PDF, 555 KB) is the third in a series of AHRQ publications that summarize the agency’s investments in patient safety research as a pathway toward safer care. Research has shown that optimizing the physical, functional and aesthetic details of healthcare facilities (e.g., units, rooms, equipment, logistics and technologies) can improve patient outcomes, reduce injuries and hospital-associated infections, and increase provider satisfaction.

Apply Now for Funding on Projects To Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antibiotic Resistance

AHRQ is funding innovative research proposals to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria (CARB). Applications are due Jan. 25 for demonstration and dissemination projects (R18) and Feb. 5 for large research projects (R01). HAI projects in both grant categories should demonstrate new ways to detect, prevent and reduce HAIs. CARB projects should address ways to promote appropriate antibiotic use, reduce the transmission of resistant bacteria or prevent HAIs. The funding is available to support research in all healthcare settings: long-term care, ambulatory care, acute care hospitals, and those focusing on transitions between care settings. AHRQ encourages potential applicants to consider research in healthcare delivery areas with demonstrated health inequities and to address those equity issues in their proposed projects.  

Highlights From AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network

AHRQ’s Patient Safety Network (PSNet) highlights journal articles, books and tools related to patient safety. Articles featured this week include:

• Validation of a reduced set of high-performance triggers for identifying patient safety incidents with harm in primary care.
• Inappropriate prescribing to older patients by nurse practitioners and primary care physicians.
• Psychological safety as a new ACGME requirement: a comprehensive all-in-one guide to radiology residency programs.
• Network of Patient Safety Databases Chartbook.

Review additional new publications in PSNet’s current issue or access recent cases and commentaries in AHRQ’s WebM&M (Morbidity and Mortality Rounds on the Web).

Deadline Extended to December 6 for Entries to Challenge Competition on Clinical Decision Support

Entries are now due Dec. 6 for the challenge competition on advancing the functionality, value and accessibility of AHRQ’s CDS Connect platform. Four prizes of $25,000 each will be awarded to winning contestants. CDS Connect is a freely available web-based resource that enables the clinical decision support (CDS) community to identify evidence-based care, translate and codify information into an interoperable health information technology standard, and promote a collaborative model of CDS development. The challenge aims to strengthen the ways in which industry, government and nonprofit entities can collaborate to share innovative CDS across health systems. Access more information about how to enter.

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

The PRIDx framework to engage payers in reducing diagnostic errors in healthcare. Ali KJ, Goeschel CA, DeLia DM, et al. Diagnosis 2023 Oct 5. [Epub ahead of print.] Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Total added sugar consumption is not significantly associated with risk for prediabetes among U.S. adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2013-2018. Sneed NM, Azuero A, Moss J, et al. PLoS One 2023 Jun 20;18(6):e0286759. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Ultra-processed food consumption and BMI-Z among children at risk for obesity from low-income households. Heerman WJ, Sneed NM, Sommer EC, et al. Pediatr Obes 2023 Aug;18(8):e13037. Epub 2023 Apr 18. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Assessing interventions on crowdsourcing platforms to nudge patients for engagement behaviors in primary care settings: randomized controlled trial. Chen KY, Lang Y, Zhou Y, et al. J Med Internet Res 2023 Jul 13;25:e41431. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Health-related quality of life in high-cost, high-need populations. Leininger LJ, Tomaino M, Meara E. Am J Manag Care 2023 Jul;29(7):362-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Evaluating inhaler education interventions for hospitalized children with asthma: a randomized controlled trial. Volerman A, Balachandran U, Zhu M, et al. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2023 Aug;131(2):217-23.e1. Epub 2023 Mar 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Telemedicine versus in-person primary care: treatment and follow-up visits. Reed M, Huang J, Somers M, et al. Ann Intern Med 2023 Oct;176(10):1349-57. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Racial differences in low value care among older adult Medicare patients in US health systems: retrospective cohort study. Ganguli I, Mackwood MB, Yang CW, et al. BMJ 2023 Oct 25;383:e074908. Access the abstract on PubMed®.